Visitor’s Guide To New York – The Greatest All-Year-Round Vacation City – Folding Map

Cartographer: Alexander Gross
Publisher: Geographia Map Co
Price: £35 (post-free in the UK)
Publication Date: 1950-53
Edition: 1st edition thus
Format: Colour printed
Condition: In good condition, unframed
Sheet Size: 71.2cm x 41.8cm

Condition:

Folding map. Map size: 71.2cm x 41.8cm. Mayor of New York at the time was Vincent R Impellitteri so this dates it to between 1950 and 1953. Long repair to the central fold from the reverse using archive tape. Slightly nicked and rubbed. Colours bright and clean. In good overall condition and scarce.

Location: DOBR 002770

New York In The 1950s: A Brief Account

The city of New York in the 1950s stood as a symbol of post-war optimism, booming prosperity, and vibrant cultural transformation. Emerging from the shadows of the Second World War, New York assumed an unrivalled position as the capital of commerce, arts, and dreams. Skyscrapers gleamed against the wide American skies, casting long shadows over the bustling avenues below.

Manhattan, the city’s heart, teemed with energy. Men in tailored suits and fedoras hurried along the pavements, briefcases in hand, while women, often in elegant dresses with gloves and pearls, navigated the streets with an air of self-assurance. The streets were alive with the clatter of typewriters, the aroma of roasting chestnuts from street vendors, and the honking of the omnipresent yellow taxis.

The economy flourished. Wall Street boomed, spurred on by post-war industrial growth and a surging middle class eager to spend and invest. Department stores such as Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s became emporiums of modern living, offering everything from the latest household appliances to the newest fashions.

At night, the city never truly slept. Times Square dazzled with neon lights and animated signs, drawing tourists and locals alike. Broadway thrived, producing legendary productions that would later become timeless classics. Musicals such as “Guys and Dolls” and “The King and I” captivated audiences, while downtown in smoky clubs, the new rhythms of bebop jazz echoed from the instruments of musicians like Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk.

Meanwhile, the Beat Generation found its voice in the cafés and lofts of Greenwich Village. Writers and poets, disillusioned with the materialism of the age, gathered to read experimental works, sipping endless coffee and debating the meaning of life and art. The city was also a magnet for visual artists; the abstract expressionist movement flourished, with figures such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning pushing the boundaries of modern art.

Socially, New York remained a city of contrasts. While the middle class enjoyed unprecedented prosperity, poverty lingered in many neighbourhoods, particularly in Harlem and parts of the Lower East Side. Racial segregation, though not legally enshrined as in the American South, was still a daily reality. Nevertheless, the civil rights movement began to stir, its first tentative steps echoing through the churches and community halls.

Architecturally, New York expanded upwards and outwards. The United Nations Headquarters, completed in 1952, embodied the city’s new role as a hub of global diplomacy. Grand Central Terminal, the Empire State Building, and the newly built Lever House represented the modernist spirit, blending style with functionality.

Television rose to prominence during the decade, revolutionising entertainment and communication. Families gathered around boxy, flickering screens to watch programmes that would soon become cultural staples. Icons such as Lucille Ball and Ed Sullivan entered homes and shaped popular culture, cementing New York’s status not merely as a physical city but as an idea projected to the nation and the world.

Despite the air of confidence, there remained an undercurrent of anxiety. The Cold War cast a long shadow; drills for nuclear attacks were common in schools, and political tensions seeped into daily life. Yet for many, the overwhelming sensation was one of hope. In the coffee shops, on the construction sites, in the theatres, and on the trading floors, New Yorkers embraced the possibilities of a modern age with characteristic flair and resilience.

By the end of the 1950s, New York had firmly established itself as the definitive metropolis of the twentieth century — a dazzling, sometimes contradictory, always compelling arena where the future was being invented at a headlong pace.

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